SA juniors suffer third Davis Cup defeat in Mexico

Updated: September 26, 2014

Despite giving their all, the South African junior Davis Cup team lost their final round robin match to Sweden at the Junior Davis Cup Final in San Luis Potosi, Mexico on Wednesday.South Africa went down 2-1 to the Scandinavian nation.
They made a confident start to the tie when African Youth Games representative Richard Thongoana beat David Norfolk 6-3 6-4. But then Sweden levelled matters when their No2 player, Karl Friberg beat Calvin Jordaan 6-4 6-3.
A disappointed team coach Jared Temlett said ‘after a clinical performance by Thongoana, Jordaan just couldn’t carry on the winning run losing in a match which was very evenly matched. Calvin always gives 100% in matches and it was no different today. Unfortunately for him and the team today he struggled to gain any momentum in the match due to too many unforced errors.’
In the deciding doubles rubber the South African team came out firing all cylinders. However Damon Kesaris and Thongoana could not convert any of their many chances. Kesaris and Thongoana lost to Karl Friberg/Jonas Eriksson-Ziverts 2-6 3-6.
‘The boys had so many chances,’ said Temlett. ‘Damon and Richard had 21 break point opportunities throughout the match and only managing to convert two.
‘It was real agony again for the South African team as they gave their all against Sweden today. It was another frustrating day for the team results wise, but on the positive side it has been an invaluable experience for the boys to get the chance to play against the best in the world,’ continued Temlett.
South Africa have now lost all their Group C round robin matches. On Tuesday fifth seeds Argentina beat South Africa 2-1 and on Wednesday third seed Japan beat the South Africans 3-0.
South Africa will now play out for positions 13-16 on Friday and Saturday.